Elegant Sufficiency
by Kristine
Summary: Exploring the options after events in Barbados. Mainly revolves around Rachel and Joey. Enjoy!
1. Reluctance

Elegant Sufficiency  
  
Exploring the options after events in Barbados. Mainly revolves around Rachel, Joey, and Ross, but hopefully with the other characters as well later on. Just for a bit of background, this story begins when everyone has returned home from Barbados, so events will be explained in later chapters (which, by the way, I haven't written yet nor planned out, so reviews and criticisms as well as plot suggestions are very welcome). This first chapter is mainly setting the scene. And also, the title probably won't make sense until later.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own 'Friends' or any of the characters. This story is all in good pure fun.  
  
.........  
  
Chapter One: Reluctance  
  
Rachel sighed as she began to unpack her suitcase, pausing briefly as she ran her hand over the soft material of skirts and blouses, smoothing out their creases before choosing either closet or hamper. J. Crew capri khakis, hamper. BCBG blouse, closet. Rachel smiled, thinking Monica would be proud of the fact that for probably the first time, she was actually unpacking her suitcase, instead of living out of it for a week until everything was gone. She could almost feel Mon's congratulatory hug.  
  
She was alone for the first time in a few days, some of the most confusing and life-altering and blissful days of her life, and she was fully prepared to sort out her rumpled thoughts. But all she could think about was the weather, how temperamental New York was after the soft rain of Barbados. The rain that kept people inside and have the type of cabin fever that made them do things they would not ordinarily do. Like go to pharmaceutical conventions, confess feelings, and kiss. And fall in love. She glanced out the window, taking in the dark clouds drifting menacingly over the city. The sky was split in two, half the gloriously deep blue of early evening and half an angry, brewing black. The black was winning.  
  
Putting the last pair of sandals, those foam flip-flops you're supposed to wear to the beach with a straw hat and sarong tied around your waist, into the bottom of her closet, Rachel zipped her now empty suitcase shut and pushed it to a temporary storage place under her bed. She could deal with that part later. Right now all she wanted to do was relax in Joey's barcalounger with a glass of white wine and think. Joey was gone, still on an airplane from Barbados with Ross and Charlie, their flights having a different return time than the rest of the gang. They wouldn't be home for a few hours. Emma was still at her mother's, and would be until tomorrow. Noonish.  
  
Rachel shuffled out to the kitchen and uncorked a white Zinfandel, splashing it into a stemmed glass, swirling it and watching the veins slide reluctantly back down into the liquid. Reluctance, she thought, as she slipped herself into Joey's barcalounger, reveling in the comforting Joey scent emanating from the soft leather. Reluctance was exactly her problem, her condition. She was at a crossroads, her past laying behind her, a history encompassed by one person: Ross. He was the foundation. He held the joys, the heartbreaks, the sadness of the past nine years. That whole part of her life was wrapped up in him. The others had important roles too, but they weren't Ross. They weren't the center.  
  
Ahead was her future, uncertain and pliable, ready to be molded like soft clay in a potter's hand. She saw two directions, one a road much like the one she had been on for the past year, with no one in particular to share her life with besides her five close friends and her little Emma. This was the path on which nothing changed and no one would get hurt except herself. And in the other direction she saw Joey, her fun, lovable, endearingly honest, devastatingly handsome Joey. The one to whom she had confessed her feelings to in Barbados. The one she had kissed. The one she had started to fall in love with. She could feel herself falling, and it scared her. Could this wonderful man be her future? Or was the road too dangerous? The lives of five friends and one daughter hung in the balance.  
  
Which road would she choose?  
  
She brought the glass of wine to her lips and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she decided, she would pick a road. She would pick it in her sleep, where her dreams would help to guide her and aid her in her decision. Reluctance has no place in the morning.  
  
Three hours later, the apartment soaked in honey light drifting from Rachel's open bedroom door, the only sound was the drone of Manhattan traffic, the rain that had started to fall on a darkened city, and Rachel's steady breathing as she explored in her dreams. The front door opened, Joey pulling a suitcase behind him, his hair slightly disheveled from the airplane and sleepiness lining his eyes. His gaze fell on her asleep in his chair, a half-full glass of wine on the floor beside her. Half-full, he thought. Never half-empty.  
  
He quietly shut the door behind him and placed his keys on the counter. The clank was loud in the hushed room, and Rachel's eyes flew open. Her decision was in front of her. Her morning was here.  
  
..............  
  
To be continued.  
  
Please review, it's very helpful! 


	2. Elegant Sufficiency

Elegant Sufficiency  
  
Exploring the options after Barbados.  
  
Author's Note: This story revolves around Rachel and Joey, and sadly does not include the other characters. I was originally going to do a bit more with this piece, but I don't want to step in the toes of RoseOnAVine's wonderful "Past and Present," which, by the way, you all should read. No need to be repetitive! :0) So instead, I'm wrapping this story up pretty quickly in this chapter, and will come back to Joey and Rachel as well as explore some other couples in other fics. Hope you enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own 'Friends' or any of the characters. This story is all in good pure fun.  
  
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Chapter 2: Elegant Sufficiency  
  
Rachel let a slow, sly, sleepy smile creep onto her face at the sight of Joey standing at the kitchen counter, looking slightly guilty for waking her up. He gave her a sheepish grin complete with a slight shrug of the shoulders, and in her eyes he looked vulnerable. As if with one word she could either break his heart in a million pieces or fill it with a lifetime of joy. Sitting there in his barcalounger, right foot tucked under left leg, she realized that this vulnerability went both ways. Looking back on the past month, she knew that he, too could break her heart. And he, too, could make her complete. They each held the other's destiny in the palm of their hands.  
  
As a few silent seconds ticked slowly by, memories of Barbados flooded Rachel's head, drowning her in a sea of warmth. She remembered how jealously and longing shot through her whenever she saw Joey and Charlie together. How her heart twinged with hope when they broke up. How she had confessed her feelings and learned, that after all these months, Joey had not stopped thinking about her, never stopped loving her. It hadn't even faded. How relief and urgency swept through her when she opened the door and Joey stood on the other side, eyes anxious and full of wonder, wordlessly telling her that they were on the brink of something great, that their dreams could come true. She had tried countless times to play that night over in her head, but it was a blur. A wonderful blur. No talking, no thinking, just emotions. From that very first all-too-brief kiss, her hands resting tentatively on his chest, his fingering the bare skin of her back, lips and souls meeting, Rachel could not distinctly connect the dots on how from there they wound up asleep hours later in each other's arms, legs intertwined, sheets floating about their waists, foreheads touching, breathing the same soft, sweet air. That night, one moment blended into the next, and each new emotion crashed on top of the previous like the waves in the tide. One wave crashes onto shore before the last has fully disappeared.  
  
And now here they were back at home in New York City, away from cabin fever from having to stay indoors, away from the heated emotions of the Caribbean, away from soft rain that seemed to make the air still and decisions easier to come to. In New York, there was Ross, Emma, and a temperamental sky. Could they survive?  
  
Rachel watched as Joey approached her, blinking sleepiness out of her eyes and wondering briefly if it was healthy to have your heart beat so rapidly so soon after having awaken. Her thoughts were pushed out of her head, however, as Joey slipped out of his jacket, tossed it carelessly on a kitchen stool, and slid next to her in the barcalounger, his fingers tickling her sides.  
  
"Joey! Joey!" she laughed, his touch sending her spirit soaring and making her wriggle in the chair. "Joey stop!" The words barely audible through her giggles.  
  
"What?" asked Joey innocently, his eyes sparkling. "I can't really understand you, Rach. You're going to have to speak up." He let his fingers work more magic. Rachel quickly retaliated, going for his only real ticklish spot. It was on his neck, just below the base of his ear. This sent a gleeful laugh rippling from his mouth, and Rachel knew she'd won. "Okay, okay, okay! I'll stop!" Joey conceded, and let his hands come to a resting spot on her waist.  
  
"See?" said Rachel as she nestled into his embrace, noting that she did not want to be anywhere else at the moment. Or maybe even forever. "This is nice just like this. No need for tickling!" She playfully pinched his nose. It was very pinchable.  
  
"Oh, come on!" he teased. "Where's that silly streak of yours? Did you leave it in your sleep?"  
  
Rachel couldn't help but smile, and after a moment she said, "I left a lot more than that in my sleep." Joey's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion, and he prodded her side questioningly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Oh, nothing really," she said, but then decided she needed to elaborate. "It's just this, you know, us. I like us." She looked up at him, loving the way his eyebrows set themselves in a straight line whenever he was listening closely to someone, his eyes gently probing into hers. "I know these past few days have been confusing. We haven't really talked about, you know, everything, or decided what to do about Ross or Emma or anyone else. Charlie." She took a deep breath, and continued, "but I think I left all that behind in my sleep. All that worry. And I'm ready for us." She searched his face nervously for his reaction, for a moment terrified that he had changed his mind, that he didn't really love her, that he never really had. She let out a sigh of relief when he spoke.  
  
"So am I, Rach," he said. The words were hushed, and came out barely in a whisper, so heavy were their implication. "I just ." Joey paused, choosing his words. "I don't know. I want to tell you something but I don't know how."  
  
"It's okay, sweetie. You don't have to."  
  
"No, I do. I just have to tell you that whenever I'm with you, you . you make my life full." He shrugged, a sad little grin parting his lips, thinking that his words could never live up to his thoughts. But Rachel loved the simplicity of his statement, and thought they could not have been more perfect. She smiled, pinching his nose again before leaning in to give him a slow, sensual kiss.  
  
They spent the night together in the closeness of the barcalounger, talking, laughing, sharing secrets, and falling in love. Making each other's lives complete. Full. An elegant sufficiency.  
  
...............  
  
Thank you for reading, and please leave a review! 


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